When celebrities hit a red carpet event, they know their looks are going to be scrutinized the next day, but Kaley Cuoco got more than she bargained for when she donned a hideous new hairdo to January's SAG Awards, leaving many wondering what on Earth she could have been thinking. On Thursday night's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," the 27-year-old finally answered that question.

The hairstyle that had the fashion and celeb blogosphere up in arms involved fringey, face-framing, fake-looking bangs and straightened hair that replaced her usually wavy blond locks that night. The look was dubbed everything from "helmet head" to "horrific."

Turns out the "Big Bang Theory" star had a good reason for wearing those big bangs … but admits the choice was a bad one.

While rehearsing a scene with co-star Johnny Galecki, during which their characters were supposed to be fighting, the two decided to pull a prank on fellow cast and crew members. They got into a dramatic (but fake) all-out brawl, where Galecki would pretend to be punching Cuoco and she'd go flying across the room. All went according to plan, until Cuoco realized she had actually hit her head for real and ended up with a bleeding gash that needed six stitches.

By the time the SAG Awards rolled around the following week, Cuoco had not just the stitches, but a black eye.

"It was really, really bad," she told Kimmel, "so I decided to have the brilliant idea to get bangs. As you can see I don't have bangs so I had to get fake bangs" … even though her stylists advised against it. "A bunch of them said 'let's maybe not do the bangs,' but I wanted to wear them because it covered my eye and I was really insecure about this huge black eye."

With the incident behind her, Cuoco was a truly good sport when it came to making fun of herself during the Kimmel appearance, even bringing the cursed hairpiece along with her. "These bangs who I've named Bev, Bev the bangs, almost ruined my entire career," she joked as the show put up a photo of the hideous hair. "You look like a country singer," laughed Kimmel.

"It's bad, yeah. It was honestly the worst reviewed hair in history," admitted the blonde, who went on to read some of the scathing web comments to laughs from the audience.

But the best was still to come. Kimmel took the opportunity to rid the young actress of "Bev" once and for all and had the studio's security guard/show regular Guillermo tie the clip-on bangs to a bundle of helium balloons before letting them fly away from the roof of the show's Hollywood studio.

"I can't let her ruin any more lives," insisted Cuoco. "I have to release her into the universe and be done with her."

Warning to Southern California residents: If these bangs land in your yard, do not attempt to wear them to an awards show. Seriously.